GCB U-15 inter-county 50-overs cricket…

DEMERARA won a thrilling final ball contest by one wicket to take the GCB Inter-County 50-over U-15 competition on Thursday despite a sturdy performance from Berbice Captain and National U-15 all-rounder Adrian Hetmyer.

Hetmyer followed up his 55 in the penultimate round with an entertaining 53 at DCC but his performance was not enough as his Berbice side lost.

Extras and some resilient tail-end batting by Reaz Latif shepherded Demerara, the only side undefeated in the four-team tournament to lift the title, while Berbice had to settle for the runner-up position in a riveting battle that went down to the wire.

Berbice won the toss and opted to bat on the small track which offered prodigious bounce and turned for the spinners and kept losing wickets at regular intervals.

Hetmyer hit two fours and three sixes from 51 balls before top-edging an injudicious slog-sweep to leggie Latif for the keeper to hold the lobbed offering.

Richard Ramdeholl (28) and Sohail Mohamed (15) offered support as four batters perished from run-outs as Berbicans were bowled out for 146 in 41.1 overs.

Left-arm spinner Brandon Henry had 4-34 for Demerara who reached their victory target off the last ball of the match with their last pair at the crease.

Parmeshwar Ram, one of only two batters with a century in the tournament (Emmanuel Lewis being the other), looked good before falling for 32 (three fours) from 63 balls.

Keeper Shamar Apple with 22 offered token resistance as Munesh Outar who was run out for 12, Lewis (11), Mickle Sharma (11) and Latif (11) all contributed to get their team over the line.
Ramdehol had 2-8 for Berbice.

Meanwhile in the game at Malteenoes, Essequibo beat Select XI by 65 runs. (Sean Devers)